Siddhartha

Rating:
Summary: RE-READ THIS BOOK!
Review: this is a book that not only everyone should read, but if it is a long time since they read it, it is worth every moment to read again! not many books truly fall into that category. siddhartha is one of those classic tales that grow more meaningfull as you grow older. it is a tale of eastern religion and thought, one man's path to enlightenment, that is written in such a simple and elequent manner as to be thoroughly absorbing to western minds. it is the perfect antidote to a society obsessed with " the material world ." we follow siddhartha through the three main stages of his life, in his quest for enlightenment. at times he rebels from the conventional wisdom of his day, at times he loses his moral and spititual compass, seemingly completely, but yet he always finds his way back. this is a brilliant tale that can help each of us focus on how we conduct ourselves in a very complicated society.

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Introduction to the Buddha
Review: Hesse does a nice job of introducing the reader to the Buddha's life. This book is very entertaining as well as easy to read. Further, the Buddha's life is clearly projected for what it was and the book allows the reader to fill in the blanks for themselves. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone should read this book!!!
Review: Siddhartha provides a great reading experience. Written as a short, intellectual story of a man searching for enlightment, this novel stirs up thoughts in every readers mind. Siddhartha leaves his Brahmin father's home to join an aesthetic life with monks who live in the forest. After hearing a sermon from a true Buddha, Siddhartha decides that he must search his awakening on his own. He goes into town where he meets a women who teaches him about money and love. When Siddhartha realizes that he has turned into a greedy man he retreats to the forest where he lives with a boat rower. He discovers that he has a son and he raises him after his mother dies. Then his son chooses to leave him for a more materialistic life in town. Siddhartha learns many lessons throughout the novel which we can all apply to our lives. Everone should definetly read this novel.

Rating:
Summary: truly inspirational
Review: This is an amazing book about one man's search for enlightenment. It's simple language makes it an easy read, but the philosophy and thought behind it requires you to think. there is so much siddhartha can teach you.

Rating:
Summary: The search for wisdom and meaning in the East...
Review: I read this short novel in three days after a friend recommended it to me. Just some quick background; the author (Herman Hesse) was German and wrote the novel in 1922 after traveling to the East. Hesse also reacted strongly against his Protestant upbringing; even fleeing from the seminary his parents sent him to.

The setting is probably around 500 BC and the setting is Malla republic, Magadha kingdom (in modern India, that is the west-central part of Bihar state; which is in northeastern India). However, these estimates are somewhat sketchy. I based the geography based on the place where Buddha is traditionally understood to have died (when Buddha dies in the novel it seems like all the monks are traveling to a fairly close-by location). The life of Buddha provides the rough timeline; he was probably born about 563 BC and probably died 483 BC.

The writing flows; there are no awkward sections in the novel. Complex Eastern ideas are discussed; terms such as: Om, Self, Brahmin and others are litter the pages. As I am still very much unfamiliar with much of this terminology this can make the novel difficult; no doubt understanding these terms would add to one's appreciation of the work.

The protagonist is named Siddhartha is a Brahmin's son. At this time, (and still at present), there is a caste system functioning in India that divides all persons into very specific social classes. The novel opens with him as a young man; he is successful at learning at the traditions of Hinduism, performs sacrifices and so on. Yet, he is unfulfilled; and thus he embarks on a quest where he firsts becomes a poor ascetic (he meets Buddha during this period), then a lover, then and a wealthy merchant and finally becomes a ferryman as an old man.

Evaluation

I found many of the thoughts very profound; the search for meaning and significance is unavoidable. Also, the folly of materialistic hedonism is exposed as well as how one can so easily fall into it, until one's soul is consumed. That said, monism (the doctrine that reality consists of a single basic substance or element) and pantheism (The doctrine that the universe, taken or conceived of as a whole, is God) are on every page. The view of reality affects the path of wisdom that Siddhartha pursues; he has the potential to save himself and can learn spiritual lessons from natural phenomena (e.g. a river) and he does not need to be saved from the condemnation of sin but rather must be enlightened to escape the endless cycle of reincarnation, the illusion of the world (maya) and suffering. The idea that one can save oneself or that anything can save one other than Jesus Christ is consistently presented. The discerning Christian reader should perceive these ideas and be very aware of them (especially that theses Eastern beliefs are totally incompatibly with biblical Christianity and logical/philosophical incoherence); that said, the book is very good. Reading this book is helpful in coming to a better understanding of the Eastern (Buddhist/Hindu) view of reality and life; awareness of these beliefs is important as these ideas are fast coming into the West under the guise of "New Age."

Note:

The name of the main character is actually taken from the original's Buddha's name, often transliterated as (Prince) Siddharta or Siddhartha. In the book, Buddha is often called, Gotama; this is a Pali (a language of India), for the Buddha, it basically means "Enlightened One."

Rating:
Summary: THE TRUE PROFESSION OF MAN IS TO FIND HIS WAY TO HIMSELF
Review: One's life reading cannot be said to be complete without engaging with at least one book by Hermann Hesse. "Siddhartha" is usually that book.

A curious blend of east meets west, Hesse combines his Jungian experience with his deep sense of exploration. An enigmatic writer of existential dilemmas and seemingly unconnected dualities, Hesse combines the smoldering passion of Nietzsche, the contemplative nature of eastern mysticism and out of this soup he produces "Siddhartha".

Part romantic, in the suggestion that Siddhartha listen to the river and that is where her will effect some sort of epiphany, Hesse weaves us through Siddhartha through a personal redemption away from the oppressive Hindu asceticism to a middle path. Hesse shows us the atmosphere that Siddhartha needed to experience to effect his new path.

A deeper analysis of the book lends itself to an "epic" of sorts as Siddhartha travels - but never really comes home - he comes home to himself. Both a physical and spiritual journey he is redeemed by suffering. Perhaps the most "east" leaning of his works it is one you can go back to again and again.

Miguel Llora

Rating:
Summary: A search for the self
Review: Siddharta is the son of a renowned Brahmin, a good-looking, intelligent and rich boy. But his spirit needs more than what he sees in life. Siddharta is an individualist looking for himself and for his own personal connection to the Universe. So he leaves his family and joins the samanas, wandering monks. He lives with them until he becomes dissatisfied once again. In his wanderings, he meets the Gotama Buddha, and joins his group of students. He appreciates what Gotama teaches, but it remains within himself the sense that he can't learn from others, that he will have to find the truth by himself. His spiritual search hasn't been successful. So he tries the life of the world, of money and the senses. He goes to a city and lives as a merchant, getting rich. He has a wife and son, and experiences all sensual pleasures. But soon he finds that this life won't fulfill his spiritual ambitions. At last, he goes to a river and becomes a simple ferryman, taking people to both sides of the river in a small boat. He then establishes in the life of contemplation.

Siddharta's quest is for the integration of self and universe, of instinct and spirit. It is a "bildungsroman" or a novel where the author traces a particular character throughout his whole life, telling us what and how he learns in his growing up. This novel is a mix of Western and Oriental views on life, but it is also more than that. It is the story of a search for the meaning of life, of the uncompletenness of narrow ways of life, and the need for experience to be diverse in order to find what we are looking for. As correctly pointed out by another reviewer, Siddharta is not particularly likeable until the end of the book. This is because Hesse wants to show us the mistakes and errors we all committ at some point in our lives. But this book also says an important truth: wisdom is reachable, wisdom is there for us to get it, if we learn to look for the right answers by making the right questions and by seeing not only with our eyes, but with our full brain and soul. It's hard to imagine anyone not finding something to think deeply about after reading this book, and therefore it is recommended to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Only $4.95? For the wisdom it imparts,make my bid a million.
Review: The maxim goes that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but in this case, the judgement is justice cooked well-done.

This is an amazing book by Hesse, even in comparison to his other masterpieces. Written like a religious myth, "Siddhartha" is easily digested and its ingredients quickly distributed to the hungriest portions of the brain and soul. Heed not the truths revealed in this book, and you're in for a lifetime of irrational anguish regardless of which religious tree you're barking up(Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim). Siddhartha kicked all notions and did his own thing. Follow his example, but don't necessarily dupe it step by step. An amazingly inspiring book.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: In the shade of a banyan tree, a grizzled ferryman sits listening to the river. Some say he's a sage.

He was once a wandering shramana and, briefly, like thousands of others, he followed Gotama the Buddha, enraptured by his sermons. But this man, Siddhartha, was not a follower of any but his own soul. Born the son of a Brahmin, Siddhartha was blessed in appearance, intelligence, and charisma. In order to find meaning in life, he discarded his promising future for the life of a wandering ascetic. Still, true happiness evaded him.

Then a life of pleasure and titillation merely eroded away his spiritual gains until he was just like all the other "child people," dragged around by his desires. Like Hermann Hesse's other creations of struggling young men, Siddhartha has a good dose of European angst and stubborn individualism. His final epiphany challenges both the Buddhist and the Hindu ideals of enlightenment. Neither a practitioner nor a devotee, neither meditating nor reciting, Siddhartha comes to blend in with the world, resonating with the rhythms of nature, bending the reader's ear down to hear answers from the river.

In this translation Sherab Chodzin Kohn captures the slow, spare lyricism of Siddhartha's search, putting her version on par with Hilda Rosner's standard edition

Rating:
Summary: This Brahmin's Son
Review: When I read this book and it caught my atenion really fast. It started with the Siddhartha sun bathing near the river bank. He is the handsome son of the Brahmin. After that it talked about Siddhartha and his men conversations. As this story goes on it gets more exciting and more interesting. This is a very good book and I recomend it to anyone who wants a good read.